Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"You are really strong." These five words were like a refreshing breeze to her.

When she reached Shangluo, she turned her back to him and said, "Help me hold up the hair tie. I haven't tied this hairstyle in a long time, and I can't do it by myself."

"Like this?" Shangluo stretched out his hand to help her hold on.

"Ben, have you never tied a girl's hair?"

“This really doesn’t exist”

【I testify that there really is no such thing.】

"But wait a minute." Shangluo searched the key words on the light speed website, "Ah, I see, it turns out that you need to leave some excess to support the ponytail - it's not a big deal, by the way, why didn't you have this hairstyle before?"

[Because she is not a demigod now! If she ties it too tightly, her hair will be pulled out! ]

"Will you die if you don't speak? I finally feel like there's some atmosphere."

She stopped talking halfway. She could probably guess what Apollonia meant: this trip could be like going to work, but not like going to the battlefield. She said too much, saying everything that should be said, which was a bit unlucky. She had to save some for later.

Phaethon took a deep breath and said, "Anyway, thank you. I know that I am really strong - but no matter how strong I am, I need your good equipment. Although I am confident that I can recover the strength of the foundation-building period after mastering the Spear of the Sun God, the decades of experience gap between me and Senior Fu cannot be made up. I am indeed very strong, but he has more experience in various aspects."

However, based on analysis, Fu Yuanshan has far less experience in deathmatches than you do. This is because, on this side of the world, there's practically nothing that could threaten the Ming Dynasty. Throughout his life, he's encountered only a few enemies of his level that truly posed a threat. You, on the other hand, are different; you've been constantly putting out fires.

"That gives me even more confidence!"

[Right, that's the mentality. I think you can split the score with Senior Fu 30:70, or 40:60.]

"Fifty-fifty!" Shangluo raised his hand, "I think you can beat him in a one-on-one fight!"

"Hey, hey, hey, you're exaggerating."

"How could that be? You still have 200 men holding him back."

"He's fighting a group of us alone, right? That's fine." Phaethon put his hands on his hips, "200 operators, plus me, and a dog. With our combined 202 combat power, I don't believe we can't defeat that freeloader uncle."

"Okay." Shangluo looked around, "So where are all the weapons that I was asked to deal with last?"

"It's right here." Phaethon pointed to the table next to him - rows of trays covered with red cloth.

"Is this it? I thought it was the tea set kept in the government office."

"This is it." Phaethon lifted the red cloth on one of the items and took out a golden bullet. "I can say that this is the most advanced technology in the world. It is a combination of alchemy and alchemy - the sword pill! This is a man-made magic weapon. And unlike previous magic weapons, it is not used by humans, but it and humans support each other."

[In short, it can transform! It can create armor! ]

"Huh?" Shang Luo looked at the golden elixir, "So it's so convenient. How did you do it? The size is different."

"Because the gold is transmuted into a phaseless state, and then expanded into a diamond state when needed. It not only contains a sword, but also a set of round lights, and matching armor and masks. This set of armor even reaches the standard of armor used by phlogiston submariners, but can be compressed to the size of a sword pill - this is the power of money! Apart from using pure gold, there is actually no mass production technology in the world that can achieve this."

"So how much gold was used for these 200 sets of armor?"

"Not much, maybe 600 to 700 metric tons."

"???" Shangluo was surprised, "Why are there so many?"

"Because during transmutation, gold is consumed to shape the meme. This is the most powerful part of transmutation technology. To transmute a physical form, you can use a hammer. If you have time, you can use a hammer to hammer gold into any shape you need. But to transmute an ideal form, this requires the unique skills of alchemy."

"Then how did you do it?"

"It's not done yet." Phaethon replied, "This part is waiting for you to infuse it. But don't worry, I asked the Beans to adjust all the parameters. You just need to refine these sword pills and give them 'immortal spirit', and these sword pills can become real magic weapons."

"So what exactly should I do?"

"Simple." She pointed to the alchemy room not far away. "After these sword pills are calcined to the critical temperature, you can inject the tribulation lightning into them. As for the specific method, let me think about it. Don't you have a small hammer? I think lightning and hammer have a good compatibility. Because all the parameters have been adjusted, what is needed is your 'first impetus' from top to bottom, so you just need to hammer all the sword pills one by one."

"Hammer it down to consecrate it? Why does it look familiar? Wait, does this mean I have to hammer each of the 100,000 heavenly soldiers behind me?"

"Then hammer 100,000 times. 'The Lord of Heaven moves the hammer himself', this has been agreed upon before. If you don't move yourself, how can the beans accumulate extraordinary power from the bottom up? The spirituality of this last step must be given by you."

Chapter 937 Magic Weapon

Laojun moves the hammer himself

For this sentence, Shang Tianjun now has to swing the hammer himself.

200 freshly refined sword pills that were still warm were placed in front of him, waiting for him to consecrate them.

This is a culmination of alchemy and alchemy. It not only surpasses the old-style phlogiston submarines in all aspects, but is also a revolutionary and advanced weapon for the Jinyiwei.

Because there were no magical instruments before.

Although the concept of "magic weapon" is deeply ingrained in the common consciousness of all cultivators, in fact, magic weapon was not that common before this.

The reason why people have this kind of awareness is mainly because the ancient novels about gods and demons and the modern novels about cultivating immortals all take "magic tools" for granted. Influenced by popular culture, even many Qigong practitioners think that they can get a magic tool after they enter the sect.

However, in the Dao League, whether it is the Dan Ding Sect, Taiji Sect, Shen Xiao Sect, or Xuan Zhen Sect, they don’t actually use magic weapons. Even the Jian Xian Sect doesn’t use them. Although the Jian Xian Sect uses swords, the swords of the Jian Xian Sect are generally not concrete swords. Just like the Dan Ding Sect has inner alchemy, the Jian Xian Sect generally practices "inner sword".

Moreover, even if it is a sword, it can only be regarded as a weapon, not a magic instrument or a magic weapon. As a weapon, it is an extension of the hand, a tool used by people. However, a magic instrument or a magic weapon is not like that. It is not an extension of a person, but can "carry" a person.

Although magic tools do exist, if someone obtains a magic tool, such as a small green pot or a small bronze ring, this magic tool is a true Dao opportunity, and it is not impossible to ascend to an extraordinary realm through it.

However, so far, Shangluo has not seen anyone publicly declare that he owns a specific magical weapon, even though his relationship with many monks has become quite close.

Shangluo thought that Fu Yuanshan probably had some unknown magical tools hidden, because his cultivation was really hard to figure out. Although he always said "the way of good fortune", he didn't know where he would go to get some extra food.

Furthermore, his mobility was too terrifying. Even though he was also a celestial being, Shang Luo felt that he was sometimes ridiculously fast. He was clearly in the capital not long ago, but now he was suddenly in Qingcheng Mountain in the southwest, and he brought someone with him.

[Maybe I can get something out of Xiao Han later.]

“Maybe.” Shangluo nodded, “Maybe he really has some magic weapon hidden—but things will be different later. Because the court is really going to issue a magic weapon now!”

This sword pill is a magic weapon. Different from the weapons and clothing issued by the Jinyiwei before, it is not just an "extension of the arm" used by the cultivators to perform their cultivation, but a magic weapon that can fundamentally boost the strength of the cultivators.

If you can use this sword pill freely, you can cast spells.

As long as one can cast spells, no matter what the degree or proficiency is, it means that one has reached the top level of the Qi training stage - it can even be said that one has touched the edge of the foundation building stage.

Because the most significant feature of the foundation-building period is that you can truly cast spells that can affect the outside world. You can truly use your own spells to change the world.

In the past, if one wanted to reach this level, one had to truly reach the foundation-building stage or take precious elixirs to achieve it.

Now, the newly-made sword pill can directly help its user cast spells - in a sense, it doesn't even need a skilled Qigong practitioner like Jinyiwei to cast it. As long as you can adapt, even a mortal can come and try.

Compared to weapons, magical instruments like swords and pills are more like vehicles. The driver's role is to issue commands, and the magical instrument will carry out the driver's wishes according to these commands. Both weapons and magical instruments release power, but the source of the weapon's power comes from the warrior, while the source of the magical instrument's power comes from the warrior itself.

This is indeed a revolutionary advancement, because once this power is mastered, the original order of "heaven and earth" will be broken.

Even a superman like Fu Yuanshan, who can travel a thousand miles a day, cannot do whatever he wants in front of the Heavenly Court - and this is what Shangluo wants to prove.

"Then let me try it first." Shangluo took out the small hammer that he had not used for a long time.

This hammer had been with him for many years. Before he started his "adventure", he spent his childhood thinking about this hammer and using it to think about other things, including Apollonia. After he started his adventure, the hammer had not been taken out for a long time, except for being used to threaten Apollonia from time to time.

Because it was just an ordinary hammer. According to the two categories of weapons and magic tools, this hammer was just an ordinary weapon for Shangluo, and it was far from being a magic tool. For Shangluo, the typical object that could be called a "magic tool" was the hunting knife, which truly contained a power that did not belong to Shangluo himself.

But now, this small hammer is enough, and it is just right. Because what Shangluo needs now is a medium that can convey his will.

At times like these, a handy little hammer is more useful than a bunch of magical weapons stolen from Rome.

After flexing his fingers, he started working.

He found a vise, which is the most basic tool for benchwork. He placed the sword pill using the clamp on the vise, and began to rotate the handle to clamp it.

"By the way." Shangluo suddenly asked Phaethon, "What is the hardness of this sword pill?"

"hardness?"

"Yes." Mr. Luo, a professional vise operator, spoke up. "If you don't tell me the hardness, how can I put the clamp on? It's a small matter if the vise breaks, but it's a big problem if the pill breaks. Is the hardness of this sword pill the hardness of gold? Or is it the extraordinary hardness that the divine metal should have?"

"Ah, this... I really don't know." Phaethon had never worked in this field before. "But it seems to be quite hard to the touch."

"What do you mean by 'very hard to the touch'? Forget it, I'll try it myself." He didn't expect to get any professional advice from Phaethon. Phaethon was a professional warrior, not a professional craftsman.

As for Shangluo himself, although he couldn't boast that he was a master craftsman, what he did now generally had nothing to do with combat.

Since he could not get any results from Phaethon, he had to try it himself. He was very good at it.

Hardness refers to the mechanical indentation resistance of a material (specimen) to another harder object (indenter).

So we can just use a hardness tester to measure it. The specific method is to press it to see to what extent this golden pill can resist the pressure of the pressure head.

Chapter 938 Forging

The indenter is usually made of diamond, because diamond is the hardest object in nature, except for some strange carbon crystals.

There is everything in the Jinyiwei's alchemy room, including a hardness meter.

He took the golden pill out of the vise and placed it on the hardness tester.

This hardness tester looks a bit like a microscope. Both have a table and a column on top that you need to approach from top to bottom. The difference is that when using a microscope, the teacher will tell you "Don't press it! If you press it again, the lens will break! The lens is very expensive!"; while the hardness tester is to press down from here.

There is a disc pointer on the back of the hardness tester to accurately read the hardness.

[Wait.] Apollonia suddenly reminded, [Is the hardness of this thing]

She didn't finish her words, but Shangluo had already guessed it - what to do if this thing is harder than diamond.

"Maybe. I'll give it a try. I have to try it first, because your hardness broke the equipment before."

[Then blame me! You were the one who wanted to hit me! ]

"Anyway, I've learned a lesson this time. It's OK in the New World, but if it exploded in the center of the world, it would probably be all over the news."

[What if the hardness is really higher than diamond? 】

"Then I really have to be more careful. This shows that the divine metal is true. Its hardness has reached the extraordinary level. Then I have to reconsider the treatment plan."

Shangluo pressed the button of the hardness tester - and then, he heard a crisp "bang" sound. The crushed diamond indenter flew out directly.

"Fuck, it's really harder than diamond!"

【What should we do? 】

"What should I do?"

The two asked the same question in unison.

"Tsk." Shang Luo smacked his lips. "Since this is not a conventional thing at all, I won't use conventional means to operate it."

He walked out directly with the golden elixir in his hand - this extraordinary object was harder than the hardest substance in nature, so it was obviously unnecessary to use a vise to operate it.

"By the way, let me ask first." He turned around and asked Phaethon, "You don't know the technical questions, so I won't ask. But I'll still ask from a magical perspective - what is the purpose of this process?"

"That's right," Phaethon replied. "It's mainly ritualistic - which means it's very important. Because this is magic, ritual is equivalent to a process and must be performed. The principle of this ritual is that all the substances that make up the ideas are originally composed of ether. The ether does not exist in this world, but only exists in the world of ideas. If you want to bring it into this world and shape it into the way you need it, you need to perform a ritual."

"So you want to give it a hammer?"

"The specific ceremony is very complicated, almost like delivering a baby. I have simplified it for you here, simplifying all the steps into just one process: 'hammering' - so you must ask me if it only takes 'hammering'. My answer is 'yes, just hammering'. But to be more specific, you have to hammer it."

"Because I have to be the one to consecrate it, otherwise there will be no soul, right?"

"That's a very appropriate answer." Phaethon nodded. "This part requires your spirituality to participate. Your spirituality needs to represent this world and give recognition to the etheric creations in it. Unintelligent objects cannot take on this responsibility. That's why I said before that you have to hammer the 100,000 heavenly soldiers one by one. This thing can't be automatic."

"Okay." Shangluo nodded, "I roughly understand. It's just a consecration ceremony."

He placed the sword pill on the grass outside, squatted down, and swung his hammer hard -

There was a clang.

[What happened?] Apollonia quickly jumped out and asked, and Phaethon also came over.

"Something's wrong, it seems like nothing happened - something is going to happen, right?"

"Of course," Phaethon replied. "The birth of a transcendental being is necessarily accompanied by an image, and it must also be recognized by you, allowing it to be recognized as an etheric creation by the material world and thus be 'consecrated.' The recognition is given by you, so you must be aware of it yourself. If you don't feel it, then it hasn't succeeded."

"Let me see what's going on." He moved the hammer away—

[Ah, how did it fall into the ground? Dig it out quickly.]

"Why are you talking like you're playing marbles?"

[It's like I've really played marbles before! I don't think there's anything wrong with this ritual, you really just hit it into the ground and then you have to pull it out.]

"I'll try something else." He took the sword pill to the concrete ground beside the road and hammered at the concrete ground.

"It's over." He could feel it without even picking it up. Because the hammer had already touched the ground, the entire sword pill was hammered into the concrete.

"Is this thing so hard?" Phaethon also came over.

"The diamonds are all crushed. How hard can you imagine? What should we do?"